The present invention relates to retractable athletic surfaces, particularly a retractable pitching mound or other athletic field fixture. More particularly, one aspect of the invention is a mechanical and/or electrical system for raising and lowering an athletic surface, such as a pitching mound, utilizing a drive motor to power screw jacks by drive shafts, such that a structure, preferably a steel platform, is supported on upper or lower stops in a raised or lowered position within, level with, or above an opening in an athletic field.
The investment of public/private funds in athletic facilities requires significant funds. Unfortunately, because such facilities are often designed as single-use facilities, there is a lack of flexibility in use of many of these facilities for different activities. An example of such lack of flexibility are athletic facilities containing elevated surfaces used for pitching mounds, bull pen mounds, track and field fixtures or areas, such as pits/water obstacles, etc. Because of the structure of these features of athletic facilities, the flexibility to use these venues for other purposes is limited. Further, the expense of manual conversion of these facilities for multiple uses is substantial. In addition, the potential for injury of athletes using converted sports facilities is significant, without a better control of the surface of the playing fields of these facilities.
The seasons of athletic teams often overlap, placing a premium on making a field playable in a short period of time for multiple uses. Accordingly, it is critical for a field to be convertible and playable within 24 hours from use for one sport to use for a different sport. Further, game scheduling is often conducted by league administration and is not under the control of the respective athletic teams, making quick modification of the surface of the athletic field often necessary.
The ability to raise and lower various ground level features of athletic field surfaces with minimal manpower and materials allows the surfaces to be converted from one use to another use efficiently and economically. This conversion ability also allows these venues to be more utilized and productive for multiple sports and the communities they serve. For example, such a conversion would allow a baseball playing field to be easily converted to use for football, soccer, band competitions and concerts.
For such conversions to be practical, there is a need for a system which will allow venues to use their primary playing surface without a tripping hazard that often occurs with raised or depressed athletic field features, such as pitching mounds. Efficient conversions of athletic surfaces also contribute to safety of use of such surfaces for participants.
Currently, removal of ground level and below ground level athletic field features involves many hours of labor and materials. For example, to manually remove a pitching mound from an athletic field to allow for a soccer game or concert involves manual labor using about 6 persons for approximately 7 hours each. This is very costly and results in many man-hours of labor. Additionally, the ability of grounds crews to manually reinstall fixtures with optimal consistency is difficult. A system that eliminates the need to reconstruct the fixtures resulting in a consistent surface, is needed. The retractable athletic surface/feature device disclosed herein reduces the labor needed for such conversion by approximately 80%.
Rather than manually removing and installing a raised or depressed surface, that surface can be mechanically or electrically raised or lowered and inexpensive filler soil or artificial inserts can be installed to level the surface. By utilization of this system, the total costs of this transformation of the surface can be substantially reduced.